


Questions and Answers

by brokenbutstillstanding



Series: In The Calm Of The Storm [3]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Gentle Sex, Lemon, Rape Recovery, Smut, elena thinks she knows what is best for her, reluctant reno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-04 03:02:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13355127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenbutstillstanding/pseuds/brokenbutstillstanding
Summary: Elena asks a favor of Reno, a favor that he doesn't know if he can give her.There were still too many questions he needed the answer to, too many answers that would hurt him, too much fear that if he did this he would hurt her worse than she already was. He wasn’t ready.





	1. The Question

**Author's Note:**

> hey everyone! There will be sex and flashbacks to non-con in this fic. Please be warned!

When she first came to him with the request he had to ask her to repeat herself since he was sure he must have misheard her.

“I want you to have sex with me.” She said confidently.

Reno opened and closed his mouth a few times, words failing to come out as his thoughts froze in his head.

“Why?” Was all he said instead, his heart rate steadily increasing under the pressure. 

“I want to try again. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that the last time was…it was with….it was wrong and unpleasant.” She stammered over her words, but Reno knew what she was talking about. What the remnants had done to her to try to make her talk.

“But why do you feel like you have to?” He asked, scrambling for more words as his brain tried to catch up with the conversation. 

“Because I want it to stop haunting me! I…it…I just need to….” she began to fidget, refusing to meet his eyes as she spoke. 

He couldn’t understand her. Not one bit. Why would she want to do this? It was six months after Tseng and Elena had been rescued, and both members of the Turks had been seeing psychologists weekly since, but he doubted this was a treatment prescribed to her. Which meant it was her idea. Which confused him.

There was more silence as he watched her struggle in vain to find the courage to speak, whatever it was she was having trouble telling him. Her face had reddened as the embarrassment of her request began to catch up with her, he was sure his face wasn’t much better. Hearing a knock on his apartment door and being propositioned by his coworker and friend wasn’t at all what he had expected from his day off.

“I just need to do it.” She finished, apparently losing whatever nerve she had to tell him the reason.

Reno shook his head, red strands waving in the air.

“No. Not unless you tell me why.” He demanded. 

He wasn’t really humoring her request, but he most definitely wouldn’t indulge her without a reason. The idea of sleeping with Elena scared the shit out of him for about a million different reasons.

What if she wasn’t as ready as she thought she was? What if he scared her? He didn’t know how to be gentle, he could count on one hand the amount of times he had cared about the person he slept with. What would the others do if they found out? Tseng would murder him for sure, he had been exceptionally protective of the blonde since crater. They all were. He was terrified of what Loz had done to her, what if he said something or did something and it all came rushing back?

Reno was a man who liked to take a gamble, but he wouldn’t gamble with this.

“Can I come in?” The woman at the door shuffled, still wringing her hands.

He nodded and opened the door wider, allowing her passage into his messy apartment. He kept a wary eye on her as she entered, slowing as she took in the surroundings before taking a seat on the couch.

“So, you got a reason for me?” He pushed, unwilling to let this go now that she had put it out into the air. 

She seemed to struggle to talk again.

“Yes. I just…its a little personal and embarrassing…” She said, still refusing to make eye contact. Reno tried his best not to scoff

“More personal and embarrassing than knocking on the door of a friend and asking him to have sex with you?” He challenged, one eyebrow raised. He sat down on the couch opposite her, elbows leaning on his knees.

Elena’s face turned about three shades darker as her blush grew and after a tense moment of silence Reno decided to ask another question.

“Okay fine. Why me then? Why not Rude or Tseng?” He demanded. 

That was another thing that was confusing him, why would she ask him? It was no secret she once harbored a crush on Tseng, and Rude was always gentler with her than he ever was.

“Rude is like a brother to me, I can’t even remotely imagine doing something like that with him.” She answered with a shudder. Reno ignored the fact that he apparently didn’t hold the same brotherly status as his partner and moved on.

“And Tseng?” 

“He had to watch it happen…even if I asked him to I doubt he would say yes. I’m sure you’ve noticed he won’t even meet my eye anymore.” She said, looking at the floor with something akin to shame in her eyes.

“Elena, you know that isn’t why he won’t look at you.” Reno carefully explained, trying to catch her gaze. In fact he had an in depth conversation with the man about it, it wasn't disgust the man was feeling. It was guilt.

“I know. Still. I don’t think I have it in me to ask him.” She sighed, finally meeting his electric blue gaze.

“Fair enough” he responded with an incline of his head.  
The pair sat there in silence as he waited for her to break, to answer the question he had been waiting for. The discussion could go no further until she did. 

Almost fifteen minutes went by before she spoke, resuming her habit of not looking at him. She tucked a blonde strand of hair behind her ear before she spoke, hurriedly as though she was gathering every bit of her bravery. 

“I want to know that it feels good…” She blurted out, her face taking on a rosy tint again.

Reno was as confused as ever. Feel good? Hadn’t she ever…

It hit him like a bullet train. He felt a sinking stone settle at the bottom of his stomach as he cautiously put together the words in his mind.

“Elena…with the remnants…was that your first time?” He asked carefully, paying close attention to her face.

She didn’t answer, but the small nod of her head set him on fire. He’d been angry, he’d always been angry, he’d raged and screamed and yelled and dreamt about what tortures he could concoct for Loz and his brothers but this…this had a feeling of dread and sadness curling around his gut.

He understood. Now that he thought about it, it made a lot of sense. Elena was uptight, very centered around her work, even the dirty jokes he and Rude would sometimes make caused a scandalized expression to grace her features. Of course she didn’t have any experience. And then all of a sudden she did, not of her own volition, an experience of pain and fear and control. And she was asking him to change that. But…

“I can’t. I’m sorry, Elena.” He finally responded with a tired sigh. He saw the flash of hurt shine through her eyes and tried his best to ignore it.

“Why not?” Was her response. 

Somewhere in the back of Reno’s mind he begged her not to fight him on this, not to make it harder than it already was.

“You aren’t ready.” Was all he said to her, that was apparently the wrong thing to say because her eyes flashed again, angrily this time.

“You don’t get to decide that for me!” She huffed, staring straight at him now.

Reno scrambled to backtrack his words. He still believed she wasn’t ready, but even more so than that-

“I’m not ready!” He exclaimed. 

It was the truth too, he realized. There were still too many questions he needed the answer to, too many answers that would hurt him, too much fear that if he did this he would hurt her worse than she already was. He wasn’t ready.  
There was a stretch of silence before Elena spoke again, this time without any anger in her voice. It was of cool understanding, a hint of disappointment coloring her tone.

“Thank you anyways. I’m sorry to put you in such an uncomfortable situation.” 

With that the blonde was up and heading towards his front door.

“Elena…” Reno called from his spot on the couch, not looking at her. He could hear the rustling stop and took that as a sign that she had stopped.

“If I don’t do this for you, will you go to someone else?” He finally asked. He needed to know.

“…yes” she finally said. She wasn’t angry, or smug, or hurt, there was none of that in her voice. It was just matter of a fact.

“Who?” He pressed, he may not have been able to give her what she wanted but he still cared about her safety and comfort.

“…I don’t know…I’ll find someone. Goodnight Reno.”

And with that the door shut and Reno was stuck in the most horrible silence he had felt in a while, a million thoughts running through his head. The stone that sank in his gut hadn’t lessened any, and Reno’s thoughts were at war with themselves.

This was going to be a long night.


	2. Reaching a Conclusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I trust you, Reno. You won’t hurt me.” She explained, and those simple words did something to Reno that he couldn’t understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter has vivid flashbacks of non-con

It only took him an hour to regret his decision. An hour for the images in his mind to eat at him until he couldn’t take it. He should have said yes. She asked him because she trusted him, and now she was going to try to find what she was looking for from someone else. Someone that could hurt her. 

“Fuck it all” Reno cursed as he grabbed his jacket and began taking long strides out his door to his car. 

He knew where Elena lived, they all knew where the others lived, between the four of them they had visited each others’ houses more times than he could count. He tried to quell the nervous storm swelling in his stomach as his fingers nervously tapped against the steering wheel. As soon as he managed to stop the tapping, he began chewing on his lip. Damn her. Damn her for making him this way. Damn her for asking this of him. Damn him for sending her away. 

He sped down the highway, going at least fifteen miles over the speed limit, but he managed to reach the gates of her apartment complex in record time. The man at the guard booth was dozing off, but Reno rapped hard on the window with his knuckles. When he took notice of he tattooed redhead he simply waved him through, after his fifth time visiting he hadn’t bothered scanning him in. He knew who the Turks were here for.

His tires screeched around the corner as he pulled into a parking spot and jumped out, taking the stairs to her building two at a time. He just hoped she was home, if she was home she wasn’t out looking for someone to help her heal. He pounded his fist on her door when he reached it, waiting a moment or two before resuming the pounding. He tried the handle, when that didn’t work he flipped over her door mat. 

There it was. The silver key she kept there for emergencies. The woman was notorious for losing her key, and after a couple nights of sleeping on one of their couches she decided to invest in a spare. 

The door opened easily enough after that, he strode inside and locked the door behind him.

“Elena? ‘Lena you here?” He called out loudly, noting the absence of her keys that she usually hung from a peg on the wall. Damn it, she wasn’t home. 

What followed was another couple of hours of Reno alternating between pacing Elena’s living room, sitting on her couch and bouncing his knee rapidly, and rummaging through her fridge as a distraction. He didn’t want to think about where she was, or who she was with. He just hoped she was okay. He pulled out his phone, noting the text message from one of his many booty calls. Even that didn’t distract him. He felt like he could punch a hole clean through the plaster, damn her for making him this way.

When he heard the jiggling of a key in the lock he bolted straight up from his seated position, watching as the master of the house walked through the door and turned to lock it.

Before she even took notice of him he had whirled her around, his hands firmly on her shoulders as he scanned her from head to toe.

“Reno!” She shrieked, brown eyes wide in surprise. 

When he finished with his mental examination of her body he searched deep into her eyes. 

“Are you alright?” He asked urgently.

“Reno, what…yes I’m fine!” Elena yelled, still in shock.

“Did you…what I mean to say is did…” now it was him who couldn’t seem to find the words. It took the blonde a moment to catch on but when she did she flushed.

“No! No, I just went over to Seventh Heaven for a few drinks…thats all…” She hurriedly explained.

Reno didn’t even realize how tense he had been until his shoulders relaxed at her words.

“What are you doing here, Reno?” She finally asked, prying his hands off her shoulders as she took a step further into her own apartment. 

He took a deep breath, the stone sitting in his stomach doing a wild flip flop.

“I changed my mind. I’ll do it.” He stated, only feeling a little like vomiting as he said it.

“Really?” She asked quietly, her dark eyes connecting with his bright ones, trying to detect a lie.

“Yes. If thats what you really want. But I have a stipulation.” He explained further.

She nodded in silence, hanging up her coat and venturing over to the couch. She didn’t need to tell him to follow her, he sat on the coffee table in front of her. He took in a long breath before speaking, there was a very large chance she would turn him down after he asked this, but it was important to him.

“I’ll give you what you want. But you have to tell me what happened with the remnants. All of it. Don’t leave a single thing out.”

As predicted she froze, her eyes spacing out a little. She shook her head, mop of blonde hair falling in her eyes as she regained her senses.

“Why do you want to know?” She asked quietly, he felt a little like he was coaxing a wounded dog. In a way he guessed he was.

“I don’t. But if we are going to do this, I want to know what happened. I want to help you, Elena, and I can’t do that if I’m stumbling blindly through it all.”

She was quiet for a long moment, so long that Reno almost thought she wasn’t going to answer. Finally she did, brown eyes meeting blue as she slowly nodded.

“They started with Tseng.” 

She explained all that had happened. How Tseng’s nails had been ripped out, how he had been beaten and dragged through the hall. She told him how they had both been waterboarded and carved up, how they had been choked and burned beyond recognition. That they had been healed and then the torture started all over again. She seemed to manage telling her tale fairly well until she reached the part that Reno knew was coming.

“Loz is the one who came up with the idea to…anyways they chained Tseng up. Made him watch.” 

Reno’s eyes met hers, it wasn’t enough. He needed to know what happened. If he was going to sleep with the woman in front of him he damn sure wasn’t going make things worse for her.

“How did it start?” He asked solemnly, seeing that the woman was at a roadblock.

“He made the other two leave the room. He kissed me, he took off my clothes…he…” 

She looked disturbed, glazing over for a moment before her eyes snapped to meet his.

“He told me I was beautiful. I hated it. He told me how good I was doing as he…as he hurt me. I felt so weak for crying…Tseng was begging with them to stop…”

Reno’s knuckles popped as he clenched his fists, trying to quell the anger in his gut. He calmed himself by imagining snapping Loz’s bones, one by one.

“There was so much blood…he touched me…” she continued, trailing off at the end as she took note of Reno’s face.

“Where?” He growled, he barely even recognized his own voice anymore.

“Everywhere.” 

He saw red, he knew this was a horrible idea but the information would be valuable when the time came for him to grant her request. Purple bruises started to form on his palms from how hard he was squeezing his hands.

“Reno, are you sure you want me to go on? You seem like…are you okay?” She tested out a few words and it broke through the haze. He looked at her, tear tracks on her cheeks and eyes bloodshot. Yet she still stopped to check on him.

“No. No, Elena, I’m not okay. But this is something I need to know. For me to be ready, I need to know.” He struggled to say through his emotions. He was angry, furious, he felt sadness and a pang of sympathy for Tseng. The man was holding it together better than he gave him credit for.

She paused for a minute before resuming, slowly and with many pauses as she tried to gather herself. By the end of it all Reno felt like throwing up, screaming at the sky, punching a wall, and crying all at once. 

“How can you tell me all this and not break down?” He finally spoke, grief making his voice crack.

“Its hard. You aren’t the first one I’ve told this to. In my report…the psychologist more times than I can count…it took me a while to get there but…” She trailed off, she was still crying but was keeping it together remarkably well. Better than Reno was, anyways.

“Reno…?” She asked after a solid moment of tension building in the room.

“We should have turned that helicopter around and gotten you and Tseng. None of this would have happened.” The redhead bit out, his anger at the dead men who did this to his friends turning on himself.

“What? Reno you had to! The job is more important than we are.” Elena fiercely argued.

“Really? Cause I don’t fucking think so Elena. If we had done more…this never would have happened if I came back for you.” 

Her head perked up and he cursed himself as he realized she had caught the unintentional singular he used. 

“Don’t you dare start blaming yourself for this, Reno. Don’t you dare.” She hissed out with her tears caught in her throat. The tone she used made Reno look up at her.

“I am finally starting to move on. Tseng is finally starting to move on. Its time for you to move on too. Tseng and I have been receiving help for the last six months, we are alive and we are managing this the best we know how. But if you start to break down and blame yourself for this…” She didn’t have to finish her sentence, he knew what she was going to say.

It would destroy them.

Without saying a word he sat next to her on the couch, his arms wrapped around her and hers around him. It took a few deep long breaths, but Reno finally felt the hurricane inside his mind start to quell. 

“This is why, you know.” Elena’s voice was muffled in his chest.

“Hm?” He grunted in confusion, stroking the blonde’s head in a soothing manner.

“Do you remember that mission we had together?” She asked him. 

He nodded against her head in response, he did remember. They had been on an overnight mission and she had had a nasty nightmare. He held her much like he was right now.

“I trust you, Reno. You won’t hurt me.” She explained, and those simple words did something to Reno that he couldn’t understand. 

He didn’t have a lot of people who trusted him, in fact outside of the Turks there wasn’t a single person he could think of. Yet here she was, trusting him with something fragile and on the edge of already breaking, and he felt ever so slightly humbled. He felt her yawn against him and he realized with a start how late it was, or should he say how early.

“You okay, ‘Laney?” He asked, the last thing he wanted was to make her relive those memories and then disappear on her. Growing up in the slums had taught him enough about trauma to understand that, at least.

“Yeah. Thanks.” She answered tiredly. 

“Okay. Give me a call when you want to do this, I guess. Theres no rush, and if you change your mind it’s no big deal.” Reno awkwardly supplied, not used to scheduling sex. He still felt strange about it, but thinking about her asking someone else for this didn’t sit well with him.

“Thank you. Really, you have no idea how much this means to me.” She said, sitting up finally with a soft look on her face. 

“Any time, rookie.”


	3. The Answer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally getting this chapter out! It was 11 pages so that should explain why it took so long haha. I'll have a couple more side stories for this series but this is the last for the main one! Yay! Hope you enjoy!

It was two weeks before Elena texted him, he had almost hoped she had forgotten about it. Reno felt like he was going to throw up. Not for the first time he questioned why he was going through with this. Today was the day. Elena had contacted him last night and told him she was ready, that she wanted to do it the next night, and ever since then Reno had been in a constant state of panic.

He honestly had no idea how to do this. He didn’t know how to be careful…he was scared he was going to hurt her. He had spent all day straightening his bedsheets, pacing around his apartment, and drinking as much hard liquor as he could get away with without getting completely wasted. That was the last thing he wanted. He had come up with a game plan at least, a way for her to have as much control as possible so she could back out at any time. He almost wished she would back out, preferably before they even started. It wasn’t that he was attracted to her, or that he wouldn’t have slept with her if the circumstances were different, but they weren’t. 

He was so deep in thought he didn’t hear the knock on his door the first time. It was only after the banging started up again that he snapped out of it and strode to the door with his stomach doing acrobatics in his body. He opened the door and looked down at his blonde coworker, one of his closest friends, and the woman he was going to sleep with tonight.

“Sup Laney!” He greeted, trying to mask the nerves on his face. At least she looked as nervous as he felt as he let her into his humble abode.

The pair stood in awkward silence for a moment, shuffling back and forth before Reno spoke, figuring he should take the lead. 

“Uh…come right this way…” he could have almost laughed with how awkward and nervous he was feeling. He hadn’t been this terrified before sex since…well ever. Even his first time hadn’t been this gut wrenching, and now he was going to be hers. Well, her first real one anyways.

The amount of trust she placed in him flattered him immensely, but he kind of wished she didn’t. He didn’t even trust himself to do this right. The silence continued for another moment as the stood in his bedroom, he had the decency to clean up at least, everything was nice and tidy. With a sudden burst of courage, Reno sat on the bed and clasped his hands, resting them on his knees as he met Elena’s gaze and spoke.

“Listen, any time you want this to stop, just say so and I will stop. This doesn’t go any further than you want it to. If you change your mind in the middle of it we will stop and I’ll never bring it up again if you don’t want me to. Anything hurts, anything feels uncomfortable, if you start to panic, tell me and I will do everything I can to make this good for you.” He said seriously, holding her gaze sharply. He needed her to understand. 

She smiled a little and nodded.

“Okay. Thank you.” It may have been the softest he had ever heard her sound.

“Even now, Elena. If you want to stop before this even begins we don’t have to do this.” He kind of wished she would take him up on the offer.

“I know, Reno. And thats exactly why I want this.” She responded, a little more sure of herself this time.

He nodded in response and stood up. It was now or never he supposed. He took a slow step towards her, reaching out for a hand and hoping she couldn’t feel how hard his pulse was pounding.

“Can I kiss you?” He asked a bit awkwardly, she flushed but nodded all the same and he pressed a slow and chaste kiss to her lips. She responded feebly and his fingers trailed over her face with feather light touches. 

He started by stroking her cheeks, rubbing a thumb over her cheekbone, cupping her jaw and feeling her pulse. Her heart was racing just as much as he expected it to. He grasped her hands in his again, his fingers rough and calloused from fighting his entire life, hers weren’t much better. He rubbed his thumbs across the back of her hands, then pressed a kiss to her knuckles and moved his stroking up to her forearms.  
The gravity of the situation hit him like a bullet train as he came across some scars on her wrist. The same scars the Remnants gave to her. This woman was placing every ounce of her trust into him, every fear, every hope, every vulnerable piece of her into his hands. And he would be damned if he was going to let her down. The pressure loomed over him as he ran his hands up and down her biceps, hoping the goosebumps were from the chill in the air and not from fear. He hoped she would tell him if it got to that. Her eyes didn’t look afraid though, they looked nervous, but not afraid to his relief. He gently pulled her over to his bed, she let herself be led along as the two sat down.

“Can I…?” He trailed off, hesitating before touching the buttons on her blouse.

“You first…” she said, he could hear the nerves in her voice. He reached for the buttons on his own shirt, only to be stopped by her petite hands.

“I’d like to do it…if thats okay…” she said, trailing off a little towards the end and refusing to meet his eyes. 

He grasped one of her upper arms with one hand, and cupped her face firmly with the other until she met his gaze.

“Hey, whatever you want. Okay?” He said sincerely.

She gave him another smile of gratitude before methodically unbuttoning his shirt. It wasn’t the first time she had done so, they had all given each other first aid more times than he could count, but it was the meaning behind it that made it feel as intimate as it was. She finished with the last button and slowly pushed it off his shoulders, her fingers flexing as if she wanted to touch him before curling back in on themselves.

“I said whatever you want, didn’t I?” He said with a quirk on his lips. He pulled her hand in to touch his lean muscled chest, doing so gently though so she could pull back if she really wanted.

She was hesitant as she began to explore his chest, running her fingers across his collarbone and over his pecs, trailing a hand down his arms and across his waist. Reno fought back a shiver, this might be harder than he thought.

“This isn’t just about me touching you, Elena. My body is yours during this time just as much as yours is mine.” He explained quietly, the complete and utter innocence she possessed washing over the situation. 

She nodded in return and took in a deep breath before her hands dropped.

“Okay. I’m ready now.” She said, every ounce of hesitance gone.

“Do you want me to take it off? Or do you want to do it?” Reno asked, he didn’t think he had ever talked this much in bed before but the last thing he wanted to do was take a misstep. 

“I’ll do it.” She said, fingers shaking just a little bit as she undid each button on her blouse.

Eventually it fell away, revealing a rather utilitarian bra and a toned stomach. He had seen this much of her before, during missions, even during training. But it looked different now, and not just in the context of the situation. He had to stop himself from frowning as he took in the scars lining her torso, a particularly bad one running overtop her left breast and into her bra. He didn’t need to ask to know where they came from. It was then that he noticed Elena reaching behind her for the clasp of her bra, something in Reno panicked and a hand shot out in front of him.

“Wait!” He begged.

Her eyes snapped up to him with undisguised confusion. Reno scrambled to find his words, lest he offend her or make her think there was something wrong.

“Just…you don’t have to go that fast, you know? Take your time.” 

He had caught his breath and she smiled genuinely at him.

“Reno. Its okay.” She soothed, and he could have laughed. It was supposed to be him soothing her, not the other way around.

There was a click as she unhooked her bra, and she pressed it close to her chest as she slipped her arms out of it. It was held tightly to her for a moment before she pulled it away from her body.

Reno’s breath caught again. The scar was just as bad at is had looked, but that wasn’t why he had paused. He was taken aback but just how beautiful he thought she was. There was something so raw and real about the woman before him, and he wasn’t entirely sure how to process it yet. His fingers twitched. 

“Can I…can I touch you?” He asked her, trying not to stare too much and make her uncomfortable.

She covered her chest with her arms, a small sign of discomfort that he wanted more than anything to erase.

“Go for it. Just…slowly…” she gave permission. 

He remembered what she had told him. How Loz had bitten into her beasts, how he had pinned her arms above her head and raked his nails down her stomach.

He gently grasped her face again and pulled her in for another kiss, this one a little less chaste than the last. He resumed rubbing his hands up and down her arms as he kissed the corner of her mouth, then her cheek, then her jaw. He stayed buried in her neck as he slipped his hands around her bare waist, paying rapt attention for any stiffness or signs of discomfort. He was gentle, almost clinical with his touches as he ran his fingers up and down her stomach, pressing small kisses to the crook of her neck as he did so.

He could feel his pants starting to stiffen slightly, the slow pace they were taking wasn’t quite what his body was used to but it seemed it was a welcome change.

His heart pounded in his chest as he cupped her breasts, his touch still light. His mind was racing, expecting her to stiffen up, or scream, or tell him to stop. But she didn’t. He pressed another kiss to her collarbone before venturing further down, kissing her sternum a few times before reaching the top of her breasts. 

Her hands grasped onto his biceps and he looked up, gauging the situation. He searched her warm brown eyes for a moment for any sign that he should stop and take a step back, but she just nodded. He slowly went back to her breast, stroking and kissing along her scar, finally reaching the peak of her nipple and latching his mouth around it. He heard her gasp and he felt her hands tighten around his arms, but before he could stop she spoke

“Keep going” she demanded, and who was he to disobey? 

His cock was rapidly growing harder with every gasp she made, the intimacy was getting to him. He had never gone this slow, been this intimate, with a partner before and it was starting to get to him.

He moved to her other breast, head stopping in the dip between them so he could take a long, deep inhale. After lavishing her other breast with the same attention at the first, he returned to her face and kissed her again. This one was long and deep, as slow as the first two, but joined by tongue and desire.

“Do you want to keep going? We can stop here if you want.” Reno offered, a little nervous about the next part of the night.

“Stop and I’ll kill you.” She said with a glare, Reno couldn’t help the smirk that creeped onto his face. It was just a very Elena-like thing to say.

“Your wish is my command.” He teased, sitting back on his knees. He ran a hand across the side of her head, down her hair and across her cheek as he did so. He didn’t know where all these fond touches were coming from, maybe because they had been friends for so long, maybe because of what all of this meant, he didn’t want to take the time to figure it out.

“Me first again?” He guessed, hand going for the button of his pants.

“No! I mean…I’d like to go first this time…” Elena blurted out, he tried to hide the downward twitch of his lips. It seemed like she was afraid of the same thing that he was, that once he got out of his pants all the memories would come rushing back.

“Alright.” He conceded, giving her some room to move. She stood up off the bed, looking him in the eyes.

“You can do it this time…I’m a little more comfortable now” she suggested, and he nodded and reached for the button holding up her pants.

He slipped one leg off, then the other. He ran his hands across a few more scars as he went, gently tracing them and giving soft touches to her legs as he went. When he moved his hands back up towards her hips he gave her outer thighs a caress and searched her face again. 

“Come here.” He said, grasping her hand and pulling her back onto the bed with him. She went with him easily, allowing him to kiss her, running his hands up and down her sides once more.

On one downward stroke his thumbs caught into the waistband of her plain white panties, and he caught her gaze again.

“Is it alright if I take these off?” He asked, not making a move to do so just yet.

She took a couple of deep breaths that almost had Reno stopping completely, but she nodded and spoke

“Yes. I trust you.” she said, and while there were nerves lacing her voice, there was no more hesitation.

With her consent, Reno slowly began pulling her panties down, holding eye contact and watching her closely. When he unhooked them from her legs he stroked her calves again, trying his best to be comforting. He leaned his body over hers, not missing the way she squeezed her legs together. It was only for a moment, but it made him slow down as he pressed his lips to hers. He placed a hand on her jaw, but what he found there made him stop and frown.

“Elena, you’re terrified.” He stated, her pulse going wild under his hand.

“No! No, I mean…I’m nervous but what do you expect?” She tried to explain, but Reno was already sitting up, his erection flagging.

“I told you to tell me if you were uncomfortable. We’re stopping.” He said with a frown. Before he could get up to grab her pants, her hand shot out and wrapped around his wrist like a vice.

“No! I’m nervous, but I just don’t know what to expect. I am not afraid of you.” Her final words were articulated and she yanked on his arm until he looked her dead in the eyes.

“I am not afraid of you, Reno.” She said with the most conviction he had heard out of her all night.

He sat there for a moment, neither getting closer nor farther away as he searched her face for any sign of a lie. He couldn’t find one.

“And you’ll tell me if I do something that makes you uncomfortable?” He prompted for the second time that night.

“For goodness sake Reno, yes” she said exasperatedly.

He sat there for a minute, but ultimately moved over her once again.

“Sorry, Lena. I just…I don’t want to fuck this up.” Reno offered in way of explanation. 

“I know. And thats why its you here instead of anyone else.” She said with a smile, and pulled him down for another peck on the lips.

His hands returned to her hips as he pressed her down into the bed, kissing her deeply as he rubbed his thumbs over her hipbones. 

“Its okay. You can touch me” she whispered in between kisses, and Reno sat back.

He gently nudged her legs apart and smoothed his hands down her thighs as she spread open for him. He moved his head down to her feet, giving each one a kiss before making his way up her legs, looking up at her face as he did so. His erection was back as he stared up the line of her body and he was hit by the sudden urge to tell her just how beautiful she was.

He was only stopped by the reminder of what she had told him. That Loz had called her the same thing. He would refrain from doing so if it meant avoiding anything in common with her last time. Her only other time.

He held onto that eye contact, his eyes boring into her brown ones as his lips made contact with her center. He heard the gasp from her, heard the rustling of the sheets as she clenched her fists in them. Reno couldn’t help but be a little smug, at least he could be the first to give her this. That sudden thought disturbed him a little but he shook it off, convincing himself that it was his boner talking.

He flicked his tongue one way and all of a sudden she was crying out, legs spreading wider out of instinct. As he laved her clit with attention moved a hand from her thigh to her core, slipping one finger inside rather easily. She threw her head back with another gasp as he took the opportunity to feel around, looking for the tiny rough button he knew was inside of her. He was going to make this good for her. He had promised, after all.

He knew he found it when her eyes snapped to him in shock and a sound of pleasure escaped her. Another finger joined the first, slowly opening her up for him. He was taking pleasure out of the way she squirmed, how he could make her cry out with just his fingers and tongue. The addition of a third finger made her arch her back. He wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to hurt her, that she was ready when they got there. Of course, making her moan was a perk too. He had just barely gotten the fourth one in, still licking her up and down, when she seized up with a gasp and started to shake as she came. Reno’s eyes almost rolled back into his head as her inner walls squeezed around his fingers. What he wouldn’t give to feel that around his cock…

She was gasping for air when he took his fingers out, moving back up to her face. He didn’t want to kiss her, he wasn’t sure if she would appreciate tasting herself on his mouth, but she didn’t seem to mind when she pulled him down to her mouth. When her shaking had stopped he registered that he was stroking her arms again, and she met his eyes with a smile on her face. 

“That was…wow…” she offered.

Reno couldn’t help the cocky smirk that threatened to take over his face, but it dropped off when she smacked him in the arm.

“Don’t let it go to your head!” She scolded, although he could tell the malice wasn’t there. 

They sat there for a few minutes as she recovered, her cupping his cheek and stroking his hair. He was hard as fuck, but he still stopped her hand as it travelled south.

“We don’t have to go any further than this. Don’t push yourself.” He said sincerely, all hint of cockiness gone. It had gone surprisingly well up until now and he didn’t want to ruin it. Especially since he wasn’t sure how she would react to seeing a hard penis for the first time since the Remnants. Elena sobered up immensely, looking him in the eyes.

“I have to do this.” She stated quietly, and it made Reno’s heart hurt just a little.

“No. You don’t. You don’t have to do anything until you are ready. And if you aren’t ready now then thats fine, I’ll be here when you are.” He said lowly. Sure, it would suck to have to take care of his hard on by himself, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to ask her to do something she wasn’t ready for.

“I want to do this” she amended. And after a moment Reno nodded. He slid off of the bed and stood up, facing her and giving her the option.

“I can take it off, or you can. Either way.” He said, swallowing down his nerves that had suddenly returned now that he had no idea how she would react.

“I will.” She said, and reached for the button of his pants.

Reno wasn’t a religious man, but he prayed to every deity he knew that she wouldn’t be scared off by the massive erection he was sporting.

Elena tugged his pants down, his underwear with them, slowly pulling them over his erection when it caught on the fabric. Reno stood there for a moment, completely and utterly embarrassed when she sat there and didn’t move. After a minute he figured he should help things along.

“Here. I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I’ve got an idea.” He offered, moving to the other side of the bed and laying down on his back. He ignored Elena’s curious gaze as he continued

“I won’t touch you until you tell me to. I won’t move until you tell me to. Just…do what you need to do to make yourself comfortable with…this. Touch me if you want. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but-“

“Thats a good idea” she cut him off. The nerves in her voice were palpable, but he hoped by doing this she would feel absolutely in control of the situation (even if it was going to be a living Hell for him).

For a solid moment he didn’t think she was going to do anything, then he felt her hand on his chest again. She traced her fingers down it, flinching just a little when his erection bobbed in interest. He felt her hands disappear, but just ask quickly as they left they reappeared directly on the head of his cock.

Reno let out a breath that he thought sounded more like he belonged in a lamaze class than a bedroom, but he refrained from moving.

“You okay?” Elena asked, worry tinging her voice.

“Oh yeah, I’m totally fine. Yup. Just fine here” he said, his voice a little higher than normal.

He couldn’t help the groan that escaped him when she wrapped her hand around him and gave a solid pump. He caught his lip in his teeth, biting down hard enough to taste blood as he mentally apologized to every person he had ever wronged, because it felt like he might die.

There were a few more curious touches from Elena’s end, and true to his word Reno didn’t budge, but his eyes bugged out of his head when he saw her lips headed for his member.

“Waitwaitwaitwait!” He cried out desperately, causing Elena to whip her head back up and look at him with wide eyes.

“Whats wrong!?” She asked, looking around the room as if to search for the problem.

Reno let out a strained laugh that was utterly humorless as he blew a strand of hair out of his face that had escaped from his ponytail.

“So uh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you…I mean one day if you still wanna try then sure but uh…do it now and the show might end a little early…if you catch my drift” he explained. He could only hope his face wasn’t as red as his hair. He didn’t think he’d ever blushed in the bedroom before.

“Oh…sorry about that…” she apologized with a blush of her own

“Don’t apologize, I’ll admit this has been a little more…intense…than it usually is for me.”

Dear God he hoped she would drop it soon.

“Well…um…I’d like to move on now if thats alright…” she asked, tendrils of her blush still staining her cheeks.

“Sure…I mean if you’re sure…” Reno offered, face returning to a normal color.

Elena nodded and moved to lay back, but he grabbed her bicep before she could.

“I think it might be best if you were on top. That way you can control things.” He said.

That was another thing he’d been thinking about. 

“I don’t know how…” she looked lost, but Reno just gave him a good natured smile.

“Its okay. You don’t need to know how. I’ll help you. Remember what I said about being uncomfortable though, right? We can stop at any time. Even now.” He said seriously.

“Thank you” Elena all but whispered, emotions swimming in her eyes.

Reno gave her a smile and a nod before reaching over to his bedside table, grabbing a silver wrapper and tearing it open with his teeth. He rolled on the condom with expertise and held out a hand to Elena. She looked unsure as he helped her straddle him and he offered her one more out.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m sure” she responded, and with that began the slow process of her sinking down onto him. 

Reno threw his head back as her muscles squeezed around him, but she wasn’t taking him in as smoothly as he had hoped.

“Relax, Elena. You have to relax.” He ground out, but if anything she grew tighter. 

Reno propped his head up to see the very lost looking woman on top of him. He pulled them both up so he was more or less sitting with her still on top of him. He cupped her face in his hands.

“I won’t let anything happen to you. You are safe. I’m going to keep you safe. You have to trust me.” He muttered, recognizing his own words from the night he had seen Elena go through a nightmare for the first time.

He had to stop his eyes from fluttering shut as she slowly relaxed and began to slide down his length.

“I do. I do trust you.” She said, and with that her lips were on his again.

In between kisses he helped her along, showing her how to move her hips up and down, and eventually she began to do it all on her own. On one particular down stroke he hit that same spot inside of her, and both Turks cried out. It wasn’t long before Elena’s pace faltered and he grasped her hips.

“Can I turn us over?” He asked breathlessly, sweat beading on his forehead and chest. She nodded, unable to get any words out and he flipped them over so she was on her back on the bed. 

He paused for a moment, allowing both parties to catch their breath and making sure she was alright with the change before he began moving. The slick sounds their bodies were making drove Reno absolutely insane, and from the keening moans Elena was letting out she was feeling the same. He could feel the edge creeping up on him but he’d be damned if he didn’t take care of her first.

Reaching in between their bodies, he found the little nub in between her legs right under the tuft of blonde hair and began to tease it mercilessly. He felt her inner muscles contract even more as she let out a sharp cry, and this time his eyes really did roll into the back of his head.

“Shit…” he panted out and he tried his best to get her to that peak before he went over himself.

“Reno…I…” she couldn’t get the sentence out. He prayed she wasn’t going to ask him to stop, although he knew he would if she really wanted.

“I’m gonna…” she managed, and all at once he understood. 

His hand worked just a little harder between her legs and with a sharp cry she shook, squeezing tight around Reno as she rode out her orgasm, just in time for Reno to release himself. He let out a noise somewhere between a grunt and a wheeze and his body that had been holding back for so long let go completely. 

He wasn’t sure how much time passed before they both stopped shuddering and he pulled out of her and laid next to her breathlessly. He had just throw the condom at the trash can (and missed) when he noticed it. Elena’s shoulders were shaking, almost as if she was-

“Elena!?” He called out, panicking as he saw the tears streaming down her face.

His gut seized up as he sat, feeling sick as he wondered if he had made a mistake and she had wanted him to stop.

She caught the look on his face and reached out for him with both arms

“No, Reno, no! I just…thank you…” she said, sitting up and meeting his gaze with watery eyes.

“Thank me!? You’re crying!” He pointed out, about to retrieve her clothes and beg on his knees for forgiveness. He knew this was a horrible idea.

“No! I’m not upset! I just-“ she cut herself off and threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. If she hadn’t been so close to his ear he would have missed it, but he heard her soft voice

“Thank you for showing me what its supposed to be like…thank you…”

He let out a sigh he hadn’t known he had been holding in. Instead he wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her in for a tight embrace.

“I know, I know, don’t be so emotional-“ she began, quoting what he had said to her when she first started. When Don Corneo had her dangling over a cliff.

“No. Its okay. Its okay, ‘Lena.” He murmured, cutting her off and burying his face into her hair.

He didn’t know how long they were like that, but it was long enough for both of them to fall asleep.

He woke in the morning to his cell phone ringing. He grappled around for it, eventually finding it on the floor. Thats odd. He didn’t remember changing his ringtone. He flipped it open and spoke groggily 

“Reno here. What the fuck do you want?”

“Reno?” Tseng’s voice echoed from the phone. In that instant Reno snapped awake, eyes wide as he realized why he didn’t recognize the ringtone. It all had to do with the blonde in his bed.

“Reno? Why the hell do you have Elena’s phone?”

Shit.


End file.
